Page 23 of The Charmer

"Then why were you there alone with her?" Zachary asked. "Unless these two are embellishing it. I didn’t actually see you up there on the balcony."

"They're not." I realized I could give them a version of the truth. "Georgie is the one who decorated our floats over the last few years. This year, there was a mishap, and I canceled our agreement."

"Darling boy, that’s not right,” Celine said. “We made that deal with her grandmother a long time ago. She was such a good soul."

"I've fixed my mistake. Frankly, I didn't really pay attention to what was going on, and my assistant had made some changes. Anyway, she'll be producing everything for the float again next year. I invited her to Sazerac Day as a show of goodwill." I chose my next words very carefully. "While she was at the bar, she ran into someone who was giving her a hard time."

"A bully?" Bella piped up. "Bullies are the worst."

"Something like that." What an accurate description, though I hated that Bella had encountered someone who’d given her a hard time. "She needed to get away, and I offered for her to watch the parade from the balcony."

Mom beamed from ear to ear. "I'm so proud of you, son. That was the gentlemanly thing to do. Now, can everyone move on from this conversation?"

"I have some questions," Isabeau said, ignoring Mom. "What do you mean, there was a mishap and you had to cancel it? Because of the flood?"

“Yes. My team decided to go with another supplier to avoid the risk of anything going wrong."

Isabeau put a hand on her heart. "Oh, no, no, no. I’d told Stella all those years ago that the clause she had was no good, that it gave people an easy way out. She was just too kindhearted. But at the time, the poor woman was desperate for clients, and no one would take on a new supplier without it. I promised her I’d never make use of it."

I could see my grandma was feeling bad about this. Shit.

"As I said, I've rectified my mistake, and Georgie is happy."

Isabeau was still staring at me. "But that means other clients must have dropped her, too, right?"

I nodded. "Correct."

"Were they able to get any of them back?" Celine asked. She seemed shaken too. I was starting to wonder if their connection to Georgie's grandmother was more than buyer and supplier. Maybe she’d been a friend as well.

"No, she hasn't," I admitted. Georgie hadn’t told me everything about her business, but I knew that was pretty much the case.

The two of them looked at each other but didn’t add anything else. Their silence was making me uncomfortable.

Even after the conversation moved on, my mind was still on Georgie and her business. I felt responsible and had this overwhelming urge to help her get back her clients. If they were old NOLA families like mine, I probably had connections to them. I often attended events where I socialized with them all.

Fucking hell, Julian. You're simply looking for an excuse to see her again.

As we all helped ourselves to another round of dessert, I found my grandmothers sitting next to me instead of my brothers when I returned.

"What’s going on?" I asked them.

"We're very worried about this news, dear. About Books & Beads,” Isabeau said. "Stella was such a good woman. She was a midwife, actually, and helped me when I gave birth to your father. It was a very difficult birth. We were lucky to both be alive, and it was all thanks to her. It all happened so fast, and there was no time to call for a doctor. She was on her own and knew just what to do. After that, I promised her that I’d help her no matter what. A few years later, she opened her business making beads and everything else people needed for costumes and floats, as well as selling some bags and things. I haven't been in Books & Beads for ages, but it was a very lovely, quaint shop."

“It still is.”

"She knew we had our own float even then. One year, she asked me if she could help. One thing led to another, and I became her very first client."

My eyes widened as the guilt piled on. "I didn't know that."

"Then I kept introducing her to friends of ours, and word caught on," Isabeau went on.

"I actually started working with her, too, long before our families merged," Celine said. "I would so hate for her work to be all for naught. She truly was a lovely woman, God rest her soul.” She did her usual sign of the cross. “I met her daughter once too. Is she still at the shop?”

“No, she retired. Stella’s granddaughter is running it.”

“Georgie, right?” Isabeau asked. Her memory was impeccable, as usual.

"Exactly."

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